Muslim Brotherhood of Syria

The Muslim Brotherhood of Syria is a branch of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement in Syria that was founded in 1945. The party was founded at the end of World War II, and it became one of several important parties in the country during the 1950s. In 1963, the party was banned by the secular, pan-Arabist Ba'ath Party after the party seized power in a coup d'etat, and it played a major role in dissent against the Ba'ath Party from 1976 to 1982. In 1980, membership in the Muslim Brotherhood became a capital offense in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the brother engaged in an insurgency against the Syrian government from 1979 to 1982. In 1982, thousands of armed insurgents and civilians were killed by the Syrian Arab Army following the failed Hama uprising, and it was broken as an active political force inside Syria. In its April 2012 manifesto, the Muslim Brotherhood removed all mentions of the world "Islam" from its manifesto and supported individual rights, pluralism, and democracy.